And a brand new entry at No.24...

Except (possibly) for the young these days, it's certainly true that the BBC has permeated most of our lives to a remarkable degree. 

So much so that I doubt I'm alone in feeling a strange pang of regret that a BBC programme I've not listened to for 25 years is being moved. Yes, Radio One's Sunday chart show is moving to Friday night and, even though it doesn't really matter to me in the slightest, it seems oddly like sacrilege.

In my teens 5 o'clock on Sunday, after Sunday dinner, was the time to get my C60 and C90 cassettes ready to record all the new entries. "Number 36", sang the jingle-singers. 'Click', I went. 

Oh, the thrill of the chase! When would the DJ would start rabbiting over the end of the record? Would it be too soon? Oh the dread of that! 

Tommy Vance wasn't too bad, but Simon 'flipping' Bates? Grrrrr!...Oh how I laughed when he was caught out by Falco's 'Rock Me Amadeus' and all the fading 'euses' at the end faded into complete silence. Result! 

It's funny the things you remember, isn't it?

I remember the pleasure of hearing Tommy Vance elide the ending of Tears for Fears' Mad World into The Stranglers' Golden Brown in the end of year countdown (1982) - a coupling I would re-play on my tape recorder endlessly (or at least until the tape broke, which happened quite often). 

Another very clear memory was hearing Tommy Vance apologise for saying that Annie Lennox had "beautiful eyes". Some listeners had written in describing him as "sexist". So that sort of thing was going on even back then - I'm guessing around 1982-83. 

As David said in the comments the other day, he BBC has a legacy and connection to the public psyche spanning generations. Those hoping to rein in the BBC will have that to contend with for many more years to come.